


The Breach Opens

by Farashe



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-21 18:42:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3702217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Farashe/pseuds/Farashe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Breach opens, it's a surprise for everyone. A series of pieces on how the various companions and advisers react.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_The Iron Bull_  
The Vints were beginning to crumble; it wouldn’t be long now. He reached out and grabbed one of the Tevinter soldiers and tossed him aside. This was too easy! Then The Iron Bull felt the ground shake beneath him. Giant, he thought and grinned, reaching for his weapon at last. He ran toward a pile of stone. It would allow him to leap straight for the giant’s vitals, a maneuver he executed with his usual exuberance.

As he stood on the giant’s chest working his maul out of the bones it had wedged between, there was a bright flash of green light. He looked up to see the sky tearing itself apart. A great chasm appeared above the world while light and force and wraiths poured through it.

The battlefield seemed suddenly quiet, even the wounded were silent, as every living thing was transfixed by that wound in the sky. The Iron Bull stared in shock with the others, but that shock didn’t last long. He was ben-hassrath, no situation could paralyze him for long even one as terrifying as this.

He sighed with a disgust that masked a very real fear. “It had to be demons,” he muttered with resigned annoyance (though he made sure his deep voice carried). He could feel his company’s tension ease slightly at his unphased demeanor.

He stood straight and hoisted his maul to his shoulder. “Chargers!” he barked, “Clean up and clear out! There’s money on the horizon!” Money, yes, but also a world-shaking threat. The ben-hassrath needed to know what had happened. And what would come next.

\---

_Blackwall_  
Inside a half-ruined cottage, a man who called himself Blackwall stoked a fire then leaned back against a mostly intact wall. The roof was still in decent shape, at least this corner of it, even if there were scorch marks running up the walls. Whoever had attempted to burn the place down--templars, mages, bandits, it didn’t matter--had not done a very thorough job. Blackwall was thankful for their lack of follow-through; it made a good place to rest for the night, and the weather was clear so he would likely stay dry until morning. That was always welcome.

Tomorrow he planned to follow that group of bandits he’d heard about when from the local farmers. Hopefully he could find enough people still working the land to stand up to them or they would strip what little was left to these people. Ah well, that was a problem for tomorrow. Tonight, his fire was warm and the stars were bright in the--

His thoughts chopped off with a suddenness unusual for him. The sky no longer was the deep black of night speckled with stars. Now it was filled with a green light spreading out from...a hole? A hole in the _sky_?

Blackwall had never experienced dread like this. That sky boded ill for all Thedas. If the mages or templars had caused this then their conflict had just gotten much uglier. And if it was something else? It didn’t matter, the consequences for the helpless people here would be the same.

Strangely it was that thought that calmed Blackwall’s rising panic. These people would need help more than ever. It may not do any good in the end, but he could still help them stand on their feet to the end.

And so tomorrow he would follow that group of bandits he’d heard about and “recruit” the locals to stand up to them. To stand up for themselves.

\---

_Cassandra_  
Cassandra looked toward the Temple of Sacred Ashes and tried to wrangle her doubts into submission. It wasn’t an easy task she’d set herself, there were a lot of doubts to contend with. She had faith in Diving Justinia, but could anyone really broker a peace between the mages and templars? And Cassandra herself had made the situation worse. She’d gone off to find the Champion of Kirkwall, and all she had to show for her efforts was a loudmouthed dwarf. And they were late besides so instead of being at the Temple, at the Divine’s Right Hand, where she belonged, she was here in Haven, just another onlooker.

She crossed her arms and grunted in disapproval, mostly aimed at herself. Then she shook her head. She shouldn’t be too hard on herself, even Leliana agreed that Cassandra had done the best she could. Varric’s information had been illuminating even if he couldn’t lead them to the Champion.

She began to feel a whisper of optimism among all those doubts. Perhaps the rift between the mages and templars would be healed, the Seekers would be recalled to their true duty, a measure of peace would be restored to Thedas…

Cassandra’s flicker of hope died in an instant, extinguished by a flare of green erupting from the Temple of Sacred Ashes. She had just enough time to brace herself against the shockwave of the explosion before hit.

Without any prompting from her conscious mind, her feet began to move until she was running full tilt toward that explosion. Her eyes took in the hole in the sky and her mind grappled with what had just occurred trying to make some kind of sense of it. An attack? By who? Mages? Templars? Someone else? The Divine! Was she alive? Was anyone?

These were questions for later. For now, Cassandra ran, immediately taking action. After all, that was what she did. But among the swirling thoughts cluttering her mind was a burning determination to do one thing: find the person responsible and exact justice.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now for Varric, Sera and Cole.

_Varric_  
The man snarled, little flecks of spit getting caught in his already filthy beard. It looked like it would take a few more bolts for this idiot to get the picture and clear out. It was the laughter from the onlookers. Men like this one hated to be laughed at.

Then the laughter died all at once. A strange green light streamed in from outside. For a brief moment, all was silent as if everyone held their breath waiting to find out what that green light was.

And then the world exhaled. A gust of wind blew open the tavern door letting in the cold air as well as a sound like a scream and nails on glass at the same time. But as awful as the sound was, it wasn’t what caught Varric’s attention. The green light was coming from a hole. In the sky. Like the sky had been ripped open. The was a hole in the fucking sky.

And it was right over the conclave.

His first thought was relief. That conclave was where he was supposed to be, where he would have been if the Seeker’s ship out of the Free Marches hadn’t been delayed. And it was also where the Seeker had wanted Hawke to be. 

His second was “Damnit, Blondie, not again.”

He really hoped it wasn’t Blondie. Where he was, Hawke was sure to follow. Varric wanted her well out of this.

He sighed and readied Bianca. The Seeker would need his help it seemed.

\---

 _Sera_  
Sera tossed the purse away in disgust. A few silvers. That was all. This bloody merchant was supposed to be big stuff, but all he had was a few stupid silvers? The favor hardly seemed worth it with that the only payoff.

Val Royeaux’s pickings were getting slim anyway. Stupid Empress and Grand Duke squabbling over a fancy chair. Wars were boring. It was all armies and “grrrr, I’ll get you” and shite. Hard to have any fun when everyone was so busy being serious.

Sera puffed out her cheeks and blew out a raspberry before deciding to spend some of her disappointing number of silvers on sweet rolls. She set off down the street whistling the tune to a particularly bawdy song, earning her quite a few disapproving glares from passers-by.

Suddenly she heard a gasp and a muffled scream from a knot of women walking by. “Maker preserve us!” another said. Sera looked at them and saw that they were transfixed by the sky. Only then did she notice the change in the light. It was somehow more green than it had been.

Sera looked up, her gaze following the direction of the other people in the street.

“Shite,” she whispered. Her voice held a distinct quaver, but she couldn’t help it. That sky was terrifying. There was a damned hole in it!

Sera felt something against her back and realized she had slowly backed herself up against the wall. She was trembling now from fear. That hole was so much bigger than anything else in her life. War? Stupid and pointless, but she could survive it. Whatever the fuck that was? She wasn’t so sure.

She did know this though: if it didn’t go away, things would get bad for her Friends, and Red Jenny’s games would be much harder to play.

\---

 _Cole_  
The demon who thinks of himself as Cole sits on a rock honing a dagger while he listens to the hurts of those around him. Some of these hurts he could try to heal though these are Templars, and he knows that could be dangerous. Other hurts he won't touch; the ones that come from the blue fire singing in their blood. He yearns to do more, to help, but he doesn’t want to do it wrong. Not again. And so he stays among these Templars hoping that if he does do it wrong, they will stop him. Like Evangeline would.

Here and now, they are worried. The worry whispers and wends its way through him; it is the worry of waiting and wanting but not knowing what is wanted. He knows other Templars are at a place called Haven. Cole likes that name, but these Templars’ anxiety comes from what is happening there. And as they wait, so does Cole.

The waiting ends in an instant of agony. Cole feels something ripping, writhing, roaring and repulsive, but it drags him in. His being is caught in the maelstrom, and his eyes look to the sky where they see green. Green light pouring from a rent sky, bits of the Fade rippled out into this reality. Cole curls himself into a tight ball as the sensations of the torn Fade permeate his entire consciousness.

Then a sliver of something seeps into his thoughts. It is sharp and spiked and shivering, but it is something Cole can hold onto, something outside of his own connection to that gaping hole. It is fear. The fear of the Templars. Cole’s physical form relaxes as his senses reach out to that fear wanting to soothe it, to make the pain ease. And with that desire he is himself again.

Hole in the sky or no, he wants to help the hurt. And if he stops helping, the Templars can kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you notice that Cole's piece is in present tense unlike the others, that was on purpose. Cole seems to feel things far more immediately than anyone else so it sounded better in present tense in my opinion. I tried writing it in past tense to match the others, but I kept slipping into present until it was a big mess of mixed tenses. So now it's just in present as it should be.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed part 2!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now for Solas, Vivienne and Dorian...

_Solas_  
The tavern was noisy and full of people from all over southern Thedas. A perfect place for a single elf to hide. No one paid him any attention. Most assumed him one of the rebel mages not important enough to be actually at the conclave and left him alone. Now he just waited. It would be soon. Soon Corypheus would be able to do what he could not and unlock the orb’s power.

A disturbance between a barmaid and one of the patrons caught his attention especially when a dwarf with a rather interesting looking crossbow intervened, but it was merely something to watch while he passed the time. These peoples’ lives were of no concern to him.

Suddenly light and force filled the air. A wailing sound and the feel of magic brought Solas to his feet. The crossbow-toting dwarf now stood in the door looking up at the sky. Solas moved to stand behind him, to see what had happened. It took him only a moment to see the breach and understand what had happened.

He had made a mistake, a terrible one.

This would need to be set right. He needed to reclaim that orb. But how to go about doing that?

The dwarf was cocking his crossbow, readying himself for some kind of action. Perhaps then this dwarf could lead him to a place where he could find the orb, make this right again.

\---

_Vivienne_  
Madame de Fer hated wasted time, and that is exactly what those so-called negotiations had been. Empress Celene and Duke Gaspard weren’t even in Val Royeaux! What did those boot-lickers believe could be accomplished?

She strode away from the council chamber effortlessly ignoring the protests of the inconsequential lapdog that had followed her. She paused only when he had the temerity to grab at her arm. She opened her mouth to tell him exactly what she thought of his manners, but then she stopped.

Some instinct warned her, or perhaps she sensed the terrible shift in the Fade a moment before the Breach erupted into being. Whatever it was, Vivienne had just enough time to react to the wave of force ripping across Southern Thedas. She erected a barrier protecting herself and the now-terrified courtier just as the windows shattered.

Vivienne gazed out at the hole in the sky, and she felt her lips curve into a slight smile. Here was challenge worthy of her talents; here was crisis she could devote herself to solving.

“Alas, it appears that more urgent matters demand my attention. Now, run along, dear,” she told the cowering man without so much as a glance in his direction. She had work to do, important work.

\---

_Dorian_  
The first time Dorian saw the sky open he was in Minrathous, visiting Felix. They were enjoying themselves quite a bit though Dorian could feel the undercurrent of worry they both felt for Felix’s father. He had changed recently and neither of them liked the direction of those changes. Dorian, of course, also worried for his friend. Were those circles under his eyes darker than they had been? His skin paler? But those were problems for another day. Today was a day for sipping wine and discussing the foibles of their fellows.

At least it was before the sky ripped itself apart. It wasn’t the most visible thing, this far away, but a hole in the sky is definitely noticeable no matter how far away from it you are. It’s even more noticeable when the hole is in the Veil and you happen to be a mage.

At least the companionable moment had ended with dramatic flair, Dorian found himself thinking. If only the drama had ended there.

The second time Dorian saw the sky open, he was much closer. He had followed Alexius all the way from Minrathous after his mentor’s use of time magic to alter events. The Venatori were only a few days from their destination now, and Dorian followed behind like some unwanted cur. An apt comparison, he thought, considering they were in Ferelden, kingdom of the Dog Lords.

Having lived through the opening of the Breach in a now non-existent timeline, Dorian thought he knew what to expect, but he was very wrong. This close the Breach was so much worse. He felt as if his own being were being torn apart with the sky, and that didn’t even count the effects on the physical world. The green light was painfully intense and a wall of force blew through the land accompanied by the wailing of demons.

Yes, this was much worse, and Alexius was caught up in it. Dorian would stop him though, whatever the cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Dorian's took a lot of thinking about time travel, but I decided with what Alexius was playing around with Dorian had to have experienced the Breach opening twice, and he had to have remembered both times. Seriously I thought a lot about how time travel in Thedas must work (considering things like Fiona not remembering she'd talked to the Herald in Val Royeaux but Dorian knowing about what had happened). Anyway, if someone is truly curious about all my reason, let me know. I actually took notes on how I thought it all worked. All for a 330 words of Dorian. What is my life even?
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
